Weft beat-up and shuttle guide means



Oct. 16, 1956 c. R. KRONOF'F WEFT BEAT-UP AND SHUTTLE GUIDE MEANS Filed July 14, 1953 INVENTOR CLARENCE R. KRONOFF MWM ATTO

RNEY

United States Patent WEFT BEAT-UP AND SHUTTLE GUIDE MEANS Clarence R. Kronoif, Worcester, Mass., assignor to 'Crompton & Knowles Loom Works, Worcester, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application July 14, 1953, Serial No. 367,884

8 Claims. (Cl. 139-191) This invention relates to improvements in weft beatup and shuttle guide means adapted more particularly for use on looms operating with outside weft supplies and it is the general object of the invention to provide a construction which will permit a minimum amount of motion on the part of the beat-up reed.

In looms of the type operating with a stationary weft supply it is customary to provide the beat-up, such as a reed, with some form of shuttle guide means, such as guide plates held n'gid with respect to the reed and movable into and out of the warp shed. It has been necessary in the past to swing the lay and reed through a rather large arc to enable the shuttle guide to move out of the warp shed and under the cloth as the reed beats up.

It is an important object of the present invention to separate the beat-up from the shuttle guide means and build them as two units which move in timed relation with each other but along different arcuate paths having forward components and different centers so arranged that the guide means can clear the warp shed and cloth without requiring a large motion on the part of the beatup reed.

It is a further object of the invention to provide shuttle guide means so constructed that when moving out of the warp shed it will move forwardly and downwardly to clear the path of the advancing beat-up reed which is moving upwardly and forwardly.

It is a still further object of the invention to mount the beat-up and guide units for oscillation about substantially parallel spaced axes and interconnect them so that actuating mechanism for one of the units will sufiice for the operation of both units.

It is another object of the invention to provide supports for the reed which extend forwardly and downwardly through the shuttle guide means but wherein the. reed supports and shuttle guides always remain in register with each other.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood reference is made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate by Way of example the embodiments of the invention and in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation partly in section of a loom having the present invention applied thereto,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged front. elevation looking in the direction of arrow 2 Fig. 1, showing the weft beat-up and shuttle guide units at the left hand end, of the loom,

Fig. 3, 4 and; 5 are vertical sections on lines 3-3, 4..4 and. 5--5, respectively, Fig. 2,,

Fig, 6 is an enlarged detail: section on line 66,v Fig. .2.1. 1 1

Fig. 7 is aviewsimilar toFig. 3 but showing the beatup; and guide units in the position they assume upon completion ofthe weftbeat-up operation.

Referring particularly-to Fig, 1, the loom frame-1 supportsa transversehorizontal shaft'2 having secured-thereto; a gear 3 meshing with a gear4; on a stud 5; A pulley 6; on, the stud for driving gear 4 is. driven by. abelt 7 which, in turnis driven by a pulley 8 of a. drive. motor 9.

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The loom includes in its construction a cross girt 10 on which are mounted intermediate bearing supports 11 one of which is shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Each bearing support 11 extends rearwardly from the girt 10 and theri upwardly to support an oscillating beat-up unit shaft 12 and a shuttle guide unit shaft 13. The shafts 12 and 13 are shown hexagonal in cross-section, although this shape is not essential, and have bearing bushings 14 rotatable in the support 11. Two of these bushings are shown in Fig. 5. The shafts 12 and 13 are also rotatable 'in bearings 15 and 16, respectively, on the loom frame, see Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 shows only that part of the mechanism which is at the left hand side of the loom, but it is to be understood that a similar mechanism but of opposite hand will be located at the right'hand end of the loom.

The invention includes an upper shuttle guide unit GU mounted on shaft 13 and a lower beat-up unit BU mount ed on shaft 12. Referring more particularly to Figs. 2 and 3, the guide unit GU includes a support 20 having a hub 21 extending around the shaft 13 and split as at 22 so that it can be clamped tightly to the shaft 13 by a screw 23. Extending in front of the support 20 is a transverse bar 25 the left end of which, Fig. 2, is secured at 26 to the support 20. A shuttle guide means 27 extends along the front of the bar 25 and is secured thereto by screws'2fi. In the present instance the guide means 27 is provided with a number of upwardly extending spaced shuttle guide means 30, such as teeth or fingers, each provided with a shuttle receiving slot or opening 31 to receive the shuttle S. Each opening is made to ex* tend over and on the sides of and under a shuttle passing through it. The support 2.0 has a rearwardly extending arm 32 which is pivoted. as at 33 to the upper end of a link 34. When the guide unit GU is in the guiding position shown in Fig. 3 the guide openings 31 will be in the warp shed W formed by top and bottom warp sheets 35 and 36, respectively, controlled by harness frames 37, Fig. l, to guide the shuttle S.

The weft beat-up unit BU mounted on shaft 12 in cludes a support 38 having a hub 39 split at 40 and clamped on shaft 12 by screw 41. Extendingv upwardly from hub 39 is an arm 42 formed with upper and lower lugs 43 and 44, respectively, for a purpose to be described.

Hub 39 has integral therewith an arm 45 on which is rotatably mounted a roll 46 for engagement with a cam 47 keyed as at 48 to a shaft 2. Another arm 50 also on the hub 39 has rotatable thereon a roll 51 for engage ment with a second cam 52 also secured to the shaft 2. These two cams are of the general form shown for instance in Fig. 3 and are of the conjugate type so that as shaft 2 rotates the upper and lower rolls 51' and 46 will remain in engagement with their respective cams and effect oscillation of the hub 39' and the beat-upunit The beat-up unit includes a reed R through the dents 55 of which pass the warp threads which form the warp shed W. The upper ends of the dents are held by atop rail 56 and the lower part of. reed is secured to a stay 57 which is mounted on a plurality of thin vertical support arms 58. The arms58 are arranged in pairs as suggested in- Fig. 2 and the left hand pair is held to arm 42 by a plate 59 fastened in position by a screw 60 tapped into lug 43, see Fig. 4. As shownmore particularly in'Fi'g. 6, the plate 59 has slots 61 and the arm 42 has slots 62,.the'se slots receiving, respectively, the front and rear edgesof the arms 58. The lower ends of arms 58, as shownin Fig. 4, rest' on a; pin 63 supported by the lower lugs 44. The arms 58 extend'forwardly from the rail 57' and. pass between certain of the shuttle'guides 30, see Figs. .2 and 3.

Anarm 70, Figs. 2 and 3, has a split hub 71- clamped by screw 72 to the shaft 12 and extends rea'rwardly'to be pivoted. as at 76. to thelower end. of. the previously described link 34. The link connects the two units GU and BU and causes them to rock in unison with their respective shafts 13 and 12. The parts on the hubs 39 and 71 may be considered as comprising the shuttle guide unit. The right hand part of Fig. 2 shows an additional support 75 on shaft 12 having a hub 76 and arm 77 similar to hub 39 and arm 42. A second pair of support arms 58 are held to arm 77 in the same manner as set forth in Fig. 4. Support 75 is not adapted for actuation by cams, but it may be considered as part of the beat-up unit BU.

In operation, the shaft 2 will be rotated by the motor 9 and the earns 47 and 52 secured thereto will rotate as for instance in the direction of arrow a, Fig. 3, so that the rolls 46 and 51 will occupy first the position shown in Fig. 3, then change to the position shown in Fig. 7, and then return to the position shown in Fig. 3 to effect direct oscillation of the'beat-up unit BU, and oscillation of unit GU by reason of link 34. When the parts are in position for flight of the shuttle they will be as shown in Fig. 3 with the reed R in rearmost position and the guide slots 31 in rear guiding position in the warp shed. Dwel ls on the cams will hold the two units stationary during flight of the shuttle. When the parts begin to move from the rear positions shown in Fig. 3 toward the forward positions shown in Fig. 7 the guide means 30, being forward of shaft 13, will move downwardly and forwardly as the reed R and stay 57, being rearward of shaft 12, move upwardly and forwardly, the shuttle guides moving ahead of the advancing stay 57 to avoid interference therewith and moving to the non-guiding position shown in Fig. 7. It will be noted that shaft 13 is above and rearward of shaft 12 so that the guides 30 move on a relatively short radius compared to the radius of the reed R. When moving to or from the position shown in Fig. 7 the guides 30 will remain in register with the support arms 58, see Fig. 7. Upon completion of the beat-up when the parts have reached the forward positions shown in Fig. 7 continued rotation of the shaft 2 and the cams fastened to it will cause opposite rockings of the shafts 12 and 13 back to the rear positions shown in Fig. 3, the stay 57 moving rearwardly at a fast enough rate so that the shuttle guides can rise without striking it.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the invention sets forth a shuttle guide unit which has a short radius and rocks about the axis of shaft 13 which is in relatively high position so that the shuttle guides can move downwardly and forwardly as the reed and its stay 57 move forwardly around the axis of shaft 12. During the beat-up operation the stay 57 rises around its shaft 12 whereas the shuttle guides 30 move downwardly around their shaft 13, these two motions assisting the rail and guides to clear each other as the parts move from the position shown in Fig. 3 to that shown in Fig. 7. It will also be seen that by reason of the links 34 rocking of one of the units will cause simultaneous rocking of the other unit so that a single actuating mechanism, such as the conjugate cams 47 and 52, will suffice for both uni-ts.

-'Also, the support arms 58 extend forwardly between certain of the shuttle guides 30 and then downwardly to .perm-it free rocking of the beat-up unit BU from the low position shown in Fig. 3 to the high position shown in Fig. 7-, bu the guide members when moving from the high position shown in Fig. 3 to the low position shown in Fig. 7 remain in register with the support arms 58. Because of the fact that the beat-up and guide units are separated and move about different axes such as suggested in Fig. 3 the reed need not have as large a motion as has been necessary in previous constructions, this fact being due primarily to the mounting of the guides 30 which enable them to move downwardly at the beginning of their motion away from the guiding position shown in Fig. 3.

'Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, what is claimed is:

1. In a loom operating with a shuttle to pass through a warp shed and leave a weft thread therein, a weft thread beat-up unit including a reed oscillatable concentrically about an axis below the warp shed, a shuttle guide unit including guide means forward of the reed oscillatable concentrically about an axis below the warp shed spaced above and rearward of and parallel to the axis of the beat-up unit, means interconnecting the units causing the reed and guide means to oscillate in unison about their respective axes, and actuating mechanism operatively connected to one of said units simultaneously to move said units to occupy rearward and forward positions, the interconnecting means being effectively due to the locations of said axes to cause the guide means when in rearward position to be in high position with respect to and extend into the warp shed and cause the reed when in rearward position to be in low position relatively to the warp shed, and etfective when the units are moved to forward position by the actuating mechanism to cause the guide means to move downwardly and forwardly simultaneously with upward and forward motion of the reed.

2. The loom set forth in claim 1 wherein said actuating mechanism includes conjugate cams which cause both the beat-up and shuttle guide units to remain at rest in the rearward positions thereof while the shuttle is in flight through the guide means.

'3. The loom set forth in claim 1 wherein said guide means in all positions thereof is forward of the axis of the shuttle guide unit.

4. The loom set forth in claim 1 wherein the actuating mechanism is operative'ly connected to the beat-up unit and the interconnecting means is a link pivotally connected to both of said units.

5. The loom set forth in claim 1 wherein each unit has a rearwardly extending arm and the interconnecting means includes a link pivotally connected to said arms and the arm on the beat-up unit is longer than the arm on the shuttle guide unit.

6. In a loom having a warp shed, a rockable shaft extending across the loom, shuttle guide means including spaced guide fingers forward of and rocking with the shaft, a second rockable shaft below and operative-1y connected to and rocking with the first shaft about an axis forward of and below the axis of the first shaft, both of said axes being below the warp shed support arms fixed with respect to the second shaft about an axis forward of and below the axis of the first shaft, both of said axes being below the warp shed, extending upwardly therefrom in front of the first shaft and extending rearwardly between certain of said fingers, a reed secured to said support arms rearward of said fingers and above the first shaft movable in an arcuate' path concentric with the second shaft, and actuating mechanism to rock said shafts in unison to move the support arms forwardly relatively to the fingers and move the reed forwardly along said path toward the fingers and simultaneously move the fingers downwardly relatively to the support arms away from said path.

7. The loom set forth in claim 6 wherein the support arms remain between said certain fingers for all relative positions of the fingers and support arms.

8. -In a loom operating with a shuttle to pass through a warp shed and leave a weft thread therein, a weft thread beat-up unit including a reed oscillatable about an axis below the warp shed, a shuttle guide unit including guide fingers forward of the reed each formed with a shuttle guiding opening osoillatable concentrically about an axis above and rearward of the axis of the beat-up unit and below the warp shed, means interconnecting said units causing them to oscillate in unison, and actuating mechanism operatively connected to one of said units causing said units to move to forward positions simultaneously and move to rearward positions simultaneously, said interconnecting means being effective when the guide unit is in rearward position to locate said fingers in high position with the openings in the warp shed forward of the reed and of the second named axis and causing the reed when in rearward position to be in low position relatively 5 to the warp shed and rearward of the first named axis, said interconnecting means being effective when the actuating mechanism moves the units to their forward positions to move the fingers downwardly and forwardly out of the warp shed and to move the reed forwardly 10 and upwardly to beat up the thread.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Hahn Aug. 27, 1929 Shimwell Oct. 12, 1937 Turner Apr. 13, 1954 Schofield et a1 May 31, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS France Oct. 2'5, 1950 

